US Open 2024: Sumit Nagal Bows Out In First Round After Loss To Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor

New Delhi: India’s Sumit Nagal bowed out of the US Open 2024 on Tuesday after he lost to Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor in straight sets in the first round. Nagal’s loss also ends India’s challenge in the men’s singles in the tournament. After losing the opening two sets, Nagal provided a bit of resistance in the third, and broke the Dutch player’s serve, leading to a tiebreak.

But Griekspoor prevailed narrowly to win the game. With this appearance, the 73rd-ranked Nagal became the first Indian to play in all four Grand Slams in a year after 2019. Five years back it was Prajnesh Gunneswaran who achieved the feat. Before Gunneswaran, Yuki Bhambri played all four Grand Slams in a year in 2018.

Earlier, Nagal entered the second round at Australian Open but lost in French Open and Wimbledon first rounds. At Paris Olympics 2024, Nagal was shown the exit door by Frenchman Corentin Moutet in the first round. Nagal struggled with his first serve, winning only 61 percent of those points to lose to Griekspoor, who won 87 percent of his first serve points.

The 27-year-old from Jhajjar found his rhythm quite late as he kept spraying unforced errors. Several times the Dutchman found easy winners by catching the Indian wrong footed. Light rain stopped play in the second set when Nagal was trailing 3-5. He competed well after resumption. He still is alive in US Open as he is competing in the men’s doubles as well.

Nagal had begun the season with a bang, making it to the Australian Open main draw from the qualifiers and kept improving his ranking that secured his passage into all four Grand Slams main draws. While he won a main draw round in Melbourne, in the following Majors, he fell at the first hurdle. Nevertheless, by playing all Grand Slams of the season 2024, he did his career a world of good. In the men’s doubles, India will have Rohan Bopanna, Yuki Bhambri, N Sriram Balaji and Nagal playing with different partners.